Fairbank, George K.
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GEORGE
K
FAIRBANK
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-oGeorge Kirtland Fairbank wa s born in Albion,
Michigan, January 11, 1863, the son of Stanley and
Reuamy McCollem Fairbank.
Christian woman.
The mother was a lovely
She belonged to the Baptist
ohurch in Albion, then to the Baptist ohuroh in
Fenton, as they moved from Albion to Fenton when
George was nearly five yea rs old.
George's father
was an Englishman and his mother was Irish.
Shortly after moving to Fenton his mother died
leaving him, his two sisters and a brother, orphans.
George was ten years old at this time, and his
fathe r ha d bound him out to an uncle in Atlas, Miohi
gan, who was a cabinet maker.
George became very
tired of the work of sanding and one morning he
said he ha d to t a ke t h e oows to pasture, a nd never
returned, but went back to Fenton to a frien d of
his f a t her's, who wa s a hotel keepe r , and he got
him to go home with a farmer to stay t wo we eks.
He stayed with this f a r mer until he wa s nea rly
eighteen yea rs old .
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George was converted when a boy of about
fifteen and it was a very bright conversion.
That very night he got the promise from this
farmer and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. James Cole,
that they would go to this reviva l meeting and
seek the Lord, which they did and were both soundly converted.
George never stopped trying to
help others find Christ.
He always had a Sunday
school olass and his Bible was very dear to him.
In the past, he had ha d very little schooling, as children were not obliged to go to school
more than three months in a year, but he was very
anxious for an education and studied every opportunity he had.
man helped him.
A school teacher and a neighbor
He was a likeable boy and every
one was glad to help him gain what he so much desired.
He went to the Flint high school a yea r,
then passed the examination for his first school
in Argentine with seventy-five pupils of all ages.
He worked his way through high school, then went
to the Flint normal school.
October 4, 1888, he was married to Abbie
A. Covert, daughter of Robert and Sara Marble
Covert.
They bot h came from Seneca Lake, New
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York.
George had many calls from God to be a worker
for Him, but he felt too unworthy and he could not
see his way through.
Mr. and Mrs. Fairbank we re the parents of:
c. Fairbank, born November 14, 1889,
is brigadier general to administer all
dental affa irs for the United States
army and resides in Washir.gton, D· c.;
Leigh
Lulu Delight, twin sister to Leigh, married
attorney Glenwood c. Fuller, resides in
Grand Rapids, Michigan;
Carl
s., born in Fenton township, July 10,
1892, is manager of sales for Shawalker Office Furniture in Hew York City,
reside s in Madison, New Jersey.
All these years George had very urgent calls
to the work of the ministry.
•we moved to Albion
in the fall of 1892,• writes Mrs. Fairbanks.
•He
preached as student pa stor in Deveraux and also at
a school house for the Presbyterians.
His first
appointment, 1894 - 1896, was Battle Creek Circuit.
or Penfield, with six appointments, twenty-five
miles from one end to t he other, and was referred
to as 'Fairbank and his shoes t ring circuit.••
The first year he took seventy into the
churches.
Dr. R·
w.
VanSchoick from Albion baP-
tized at a lake in that section and Reverend G. B.
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Kulp baptized those who were to be sprinkled at
the Briggs church.
Three wonderful years he
served on that work, but as the next year was his
fourth conference year, he vished to go to another
charge where he could put more time on his studies.
He was ordained Deacon in 1896 and was admitted to
full membership in the Michigan Annual Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was ordained
Elder in September 18, 1898.
•we moved to Hersey in the fall of 1897 and
served until the fall of 1901.
While on this
ork he was taken with typhoid fever, after which
he went to work too soon and had a relapse.
•we moved to Greenville circuit in OCtober
1901.
On Thanksgiving Day he was stricken with
pneumonia, but kept someone in the pulpit each
A complete nervous breakdo n followed,
Sunday.
so he did not enter his work again until warm weather came.
nerves •
He was a great sufferer with his
The second year he had a wonderful revi-
val at the Montcalm ohuroh on the Greenville circuit.
In the fall of 1903 we went to Lakeview,
where the work wa s not so heavy, and we had a good
revival there.
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•our next location was Ludington, with five
appointments, where we served from the fall of
1905 for two years and ha.d a revival in which we
were assisted by the Reverend Frank Morehouse.
We went to Sa ranac in the fall of 1907, to be
as
near as he could to his foster father, who was
very i11.
At Saranac we had a good work, includ-
ing a revival.
•In September, 1910, we were sent to Muskegon
and served the Wood Avenue and the North Muskegon
churches.
At the Wood Avenue the Mortgage was
paid and the church was repaired.
Mr. Fairl:ank
was taken very sick again with another attack of
pneumonia, which resulted in a complication of diseases including angina pectoris.
He was confined
to his bed for six months and that fall took his
retired relation.
While he was yet on crutches
he was sent to Lakeside, Muskegon, in 1913, and
had a most wonderful time there.
He took thirty-
five into the church, Archie McCrea being one of
the number.
During this time he was treated
by
specialist in Chicago for Bright's disease, and
founi it necessary to seek smaller places with
lighter work.
a
s
•In 1914, we went to Newaygo.
He was sick
again and taken to Wesley hospital, Chicago.
was helped some, but could not be cured.
He
At New-
aygo he made over the old parsonage.
•In 1916, we went to Cedar Springs, wh ere the
work was easier and in 1917 we were sent to B,yron
Center and at the next session of the Annual Conferenoe in 1918, he retired.
He oould go on no
longer.
•we went to a little home in Linden, Genessee
county, Michigan, that mother left us when she
passed away, in our home town, where he had taught
school fo r many yea rs when a young man.
While re-
siding in Linden he served as president of the
scho ol board for five years , helped the local church
visiting the sick and assisting the pastors.
He
also too k an active intere s t in community a ctivities, including the grange.
•we kept him as quiet as possi ble for a year.
He was very ambitious and it was hard for him to be
quiet.
He went to a hospital in Ann Arbor.
They
told him they could do nothing without an operation
and his heart would not allow that.
He then went
to Kayo's, in Rochester, Minnesota, ani had the OP-
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He took
eration, which took fifty-five minutes.
no anesthetic, as they said his heart could not
stand it.
They said they could help him but not
cure him.
Two years passed with suffering but he
was no better.
Then he tried to do something in
his garden, as he had all along, but did little
other v'ork, but was taken down again.
He spent
the next six months in bed, a wfully sick
plications.
very bad.
out.
ith oom-
Arthritis set in and his heart wa s
Doctors said he oould not live the day
But my brother, who is a doctor, said, 'Give
him a chance and he will fight.•
He lived, but
was bad for ten years after.
•Six years from that time, we sold our home
and moved to Ovid, Michigan, where he oould spend
his last days among his own brethern in the Michigan Conference.
ing.
From that time he could do noth-
Four years we lived in Ovid, then he had
another sudden attack of angina pectoris and lasted
just forty minutes and passed a way June 26, 1933.
•so ended the life of a man
ho was determined
to do as long as he could, and all these years a
silent sufferer.
In Ovid he continued to teach a
Bible class as long as he was able.
For the last
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three years, besides his heart affliction, he had
Bright's disease and suga r diabetes, so that what
he could eat for one, he could not eat for the
other.•
Written in 1940
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